Mexico's Wild Jaguar
Population Is on the Rise
“Just 8
years ago, Mexico’s jaguar population barely reached 4,000. Fortunately, some
promising news came out recently about these big cats. According to The Second
National Jaguar Census 2016-2018, Mexico’s jaguar population has risen up to
4,800, a 20% increase since 2010.
A consortium
of 16 institutions & 25 academic groups teamed up to conduct the census.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Telmex Telcel Foundation, & the Jaguar
Alliance collaborated with other researchers to install& monitor 396 remotely activated cameras
triggered by sensors that detect the animals’ movements & numbers.
The
increase in population is due in part to a conservation program launched in
2005 overseen by the country’s national park service & headed by Gerardo
Ceballos of the Ecology Institute at the National Autonomous University of
Mexico…
…currently,
the government of Mexico seeks to create a tri-national protection area for
jaguars in the southern jungle regions of Guatemala & Belize. In addition,
a UN agreement signed by 14 Latin American countries in March 2018 will also
foster the survival & regional conservation of jaguars through to 2030.
The
jaguar, the largest feline in the Americas, can weigh up to 100 kilos (220 pounds),
though the ones found in Mexico rarely weigh more than 60 kilos (132 pounds).
The black-spotted jaguars live in 18 countries throughout North & South
America with 90% living in the Amazon. Around 64,000 jaguars still live in the
wild, but still remain on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s
list of ‘near-threatened’ species.
Although
the jaguar remains on the list of endangered species, the recent census shows
promise of restoring the jaguar population in Mexico & surrounding areas…”
Allison
Michelle Dienstman
Sept.
14/2018
www.goodnet.org
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